Christmas in Bethlehem: Arafat at Midnight Mass

By SERGE SCHMEMANN

Published: December 25, 1995

BETHLEHEM, West Bank, Monday, Dec. 25—
The night was certainly not silent and it was not always calm as Bethlehem marked its first Christmas under Palestinian control with thunderous fireworks, choirs, bagpipes, dances and laser lights.

While the revelry flowed over Manger Square, Yasir Arafat, the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, took his place in the front pew of St. Catherine's Roman Catholic Church, part of the larger complex including the Orthodox Church of the Nativity, for the traditional Midnight Mass in his role as the new leader of Bethlehem and the Palestinians of the West Bank.

Sitting impassively in his trademark checkered headdress with his wife, Suha, and Bethlehem's mayor of 23 years, Elias Freij, Mr. Arafat listened as the Latin Patriarch, Michel Sabbah, a Palestinian who is the chief Catholic prelate of the region, praised him and declared that "the beginning of Palestinian freedom is the beginning of reconciliation between Palestinian and Jewish people."

Following an ancient tradition, the patriarch was escorted from his seat in Jerusalem to Bethlehem by mounted guards. For 28 years, Israelis escorted him the entire way. But this year, the Israeli horsemen accompanied him only as far as Rachel's Tomb, on the outskirts of Bethlehem, where a group of Palestinian riders in blue uniforms and black-checkered headscarves took over.

In brief comments of his own, which he made before the services began, Mr. Arafat referred to Jesus in the Muslim tradition as a prophet, and reiterated the themes of peace and harmony that he sounded on Saturday when he made his first triumphant entry into Bethlehem.

"We pray together and we work together for peace which our prophet Jesus Christ worked and struggled for. And I'm very sure that we will achieve this goal, not only in Bethlehem but also in Jerusalem," he said. "Tonight, Muslims, Christians and Jews will celebrate in the land of peace."

Mr. Arafat was originally supposed to have made his first appearance on Christmas Eve, but he moved up his arrival a day, apparently in order not to compete with the Christmas celebrations.

In any case, it was outside the church, in the Manger Square, that the real celebrations were taking place, and they were as much about the end of Israeli occupation as they were about the birth of Jesus in a cave here in what was then a little town, and is now a city of 55,000.

The winding, two-lane roads to the square were ablaze with decorations, with the majority featuring the Palestinian flag and Mr. Arafat's visage, and chock full of cars and pedestrians making their way toward Manger Square. But hundreds of blue-uniformed Palestinian police officers maintained control.

While German, Fiji, Finnish and many other choirs took turns singing Christmas carols and songs -- including a lively rendition of "Jingle Bells" in Arabic by a Palestinian choir -- a laser beam traced the words "Release the Prisoners," with the names of Palestinian leaders held in Israeli prisons, on a large sheet over the square.

On the square, thick with bottles and debris after three days of almost non-stop celebrations, men linked arms to dance rousing Palestinian steps to a flute or paused at many grills and soda stands. Occasional fireworks would erupt with a deafening bang overhead, sending the crowd into peals of joy.

"It's good, it's big, and it's a good deal of money," rejoiced a Palestinian man peddling haroup, a sweet non-alcoholic Arab beverage, from a large backpack decorated in flowers. "Everything is different from before. There are many more people, much more celebration."

Amal Shukri, a Christian Palestinian from Bethlehem, came out with two children, ages 8 and 7. "I told them this is a very special Christmas," she said. "It's wonderful that Arafat is here. We're very happy to have him."

Though there were far more Palestinians this year and far more revelry, there also seemed to be fewer foreign tourists, presumably because of the uncertainty over how the transfer of authority from Israel to the Palestinians would go. Christian tourism is the major industry in Bethlehem, and one of the main goals of Mr. Arafat and Mayor Freij this year was to convince visitors that they could come in safety and comfort.

"People in Tel Aviv think we were crazy to come here, but we're here, so we might as well live the experience," said Andy Gould, an American who lives and works in Tel Aviv, and who came with a group of Israeli friends. "There was history going on around, and we wanted to see it. We were a bit apprehensive, but people have been very friendly. They've offered us food, they seem very excited. It's like Independence Day."

The only incident on Christmas Eve occurred at the Israeli checkpoint on the border of the West Bank, where the police stopped busloads of Israeli nationalists who had wanted to hold a protest against the transfer of authority to the Palestinians at Rachel's Tomb.

The protesters held up posters and chanted, "Land of Israel, Land of Israel" as the police blocked their way to the West Bank.

"Why can't we go in?" demanded Judy Pearlman, a Jerusalem resident originally from New York. "The Arabs are having their celebration worshiping their God. Why can't we worship ours? All we want to do is light candles at Rachel's Tomb on the last day of Hanukkah. We're second-class citizens in our own country."